In the framework of events commemorating the Armenian Genocide centennial, Danish photojournalist Jan Grarup visited Armenia and opened the global forum “Against the Crime of Genocide” in Yerevan. The exhibitions held during the forum included photos by Grarup, taken during the Rwandan genocide, the Gulf War, the Siege of Sarajevo. Grarup has received much acclaim for his work, as well as the 1st prize of World Press Photo for his picture of Kosovo war. PanARMENIAN.Net talked with Grarup about his dangerous profession and the documentation of genocide.

On November 16, the Special Events Auditorium of Cafesjian Center for the Arts hosted the third annual donation event of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF). In an interview with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, COAF founder Garo Armen shared his thoughts on the goals and prospects of the Fund.

Tourism has been a priority for the Armenian government over the recent several years. However, this is a field which needs constant attention and innovative approaches. One of the goals of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) established though cooperation between the Armenian government and entrepreneurs from the United States, Russia, EU countries and Middle East is to secure competitiveness in healthcare, education, tourism and other fields. NCFA executive director Pegor Papazian commented on the problems and tasks in tourism as well as ways of its development in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

Member of the Russian Advertising Academy, Vice President of the Russian branch of the International Advertising Association, mastermind of advertising campaigns for Merсedes-Benz, Bosh, Sun Microsystems, IBS, Philip Morris, Optima, Electrolux and many others, Igor Ganzha, believes that advertisement is not art but a technology. Although his unpublished book titled “CreaCtiv” is cited by ad specialists, Ganzha doesn’t think of himself as a guru of advertisement. As a part of POPOK International Advertising Festival, Igor Ganzha will give a master class in Yerevan on October 30.

One of the prominent representatives of advertising design in Ukraine, Yurko Gutsulyak, believes advertisement to be an art. A laureate of Epica Awards, European Design Awards, Golden Drum, Communications Arts, ADI Awards and HOW, he gained popularity thanks to his Matches calendar. On the sidelines of POPOK Advertising Festival, Gutsulyak will give a master class on logotypes as the most important component of a brand.

In April, Armenia hosted the concerts of American singer of Armenian descent Eva Medzorian. The concert earnings were given to Armenian families and children as charitable contribution. This woman knows Armenia and its problems not by hearsay. She has had time to study them as chairwoman of various charitable organizations, associations and Armenian schools, and also thanks to her ability to listen to others but verify everything herself. For several years spouses Jack and Eva Medzorian have been engaged in charity work in Armenia. Eva Medzorian established a medical fund which in the years of need supplied Armenian hospitals with latest equipment. With the help of this fund Eva was able to assemble 1.5 million dollars in support of the victims of the 1988 Spitak earthquake.

Migration has been one of the most serious issues for post-soviet states, including Armenia. In world financial crisis situation, one of the main tasks of RA Government is to show timely reaction in choosing priority directions of migration policy. RA Migration Agency Head Gagik Eghanyan shared his views on the issue in an interview to PanARMENIAN.Net.

Though Armenia is a CSTO member, it successfully cooperates also with NATO. Armenia, represented by the Foreign Minister and Defense Minister, participated in the Lisbon NATO summit in November 2010, as part of which opinions were exchanged with respect to the bilateral relations. Newly appointed NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai commented toPanARMENIAN.Net on the current level of NATO-Armenia relations, outlooks for boosting the relations within the framework of IPAP, as well as the organization’s position on the Karabakh conflict settlement and the Armenian-Turkish normalization.

Fish products by the Armenia-based ARTEZIANICA company are becoming increasingly preferred by Russians. The owner of the Armenian processing company ARTEZIANICA Alexey Dmitriev shared the secret of their popularity, innovative technologies used by the company, prospects of the development of fish farming sector in Armenia.

Aras Özbiliz and Artur Sarkisov who joined Armenia’s national squad not so long ago managed to promptly adapt to the team members and get admired by many. These are the two representatives of the football team who did not speak Armenian with the PanARMENIAN.Net reporters. Below is our “foreign-language” interview with Özbiliz and Sarkisov.

The Cut, a film by Fatih Akin, a German director of Turkish descent, centers on a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Nazaret Manoogian, who lost his family and learnt years later that his twin daughters may have been left alive. He goes on a quest to find them and eventually reaches North Dakota. The 138-minute English-language film is scribed by Akin and ethnic Armenian Mardik Martin. On January 30, Yerevan hosted a private screening of The Cut. In a conversation with PanARMENIAN.Net, Akin spoke about the film, his position on the Armenian Genocide and more.

MOOC (massive open online course) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and via the web. 2012 became "the year of the MOOC" according to The New York Times, as several well-financed providers, associated with top universities, emerged, including Coursera, Udacity, and edX. These platforms collectively have dozens of university partners and millions of users. The fact that lectures from the world's top professors are now a commodity available over the Internet for free is shaking up higher education from top to bottom. KASA Swiss Humanitarian Foundation in cooperation with Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, the Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia and PAN has organized a forum on November 2, 2014 on impact of IT on education to discuss current trends, challenges and opportunities IT has brought to the education landscape. The keynote speaker of the forum was the originator of MOOCs Stephen Downes. PAN had the chance to talk with Downes about MOOCs and the future of education.

In 1582, the Gregorian calendar reform restored January 1 as New Year's day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire —and their American colonies— still celebrated the New Year in March.